GILEAD (גִּלְעָד).  Biblical. [Hebrew Gileadh = "hard," "rough," or "stony region."  But cf. Galeed = "heap of witness" (Gesenius)].

    I. Persons.
    (1)  The son of Machir and grandson of Manasseh.  He founded the family of the Gileadites (Numb. xxvi. 29, 30).
    (2)  The father of Jephthah, probably a descendant of No. 1 (Judg. xi. 1).
    (3)  A son of a certain Michael and the father of Jaroah (1 Chron. v. 14).
    II. Places.
    (1)  A region east of the Jordan (Judg. v. 17; 1 Sam. xiii. 7; 2 Sam. xvii. 26; xxiv. 5, 6).  It was bounded on the north by Bashan, on the south, perhaps, by the vale of Heshbon, on the east by Arabia, and on the west by the river Jordan.
    (2)  A city in the region of Gilead (Hos. vi. 8; cf. xii. 11).  It was, perhaps, the city rather than the region which Moses gave to Machir, the son of Manasseh (Numb. xxxii. 39, 40).
    (3)  (?)  Apparently a mountain near the well of Harod (cf. Judg. vii. 1, 3).  As the eminence occupying that situation is Gilboa, it is probable that Gilead is here a copyist's error for Gilboa. (The Sunday School Teacher's Bible Manual, Hunter, 1894).